Have Fangs, Will Travel
by Joltz
Summary: Remus Lupin makes a mistake and an American muggle pays the price...
1. Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Have Fangs, Will Travel  
Part One  
  
Darkness. Warmth. Silence. A comforting environment, a room obviously quite lived-in, but not exactly quaint. Worn carpet the color of pepto-bismol covered a creaky floor, and the white walls would dimly light up now-and-then from the neighbor's motion sensor lamps. Books cluttered the shelves and dresser tops, and a fine layer of dust seemed to cover everything. Yes, it was lived-in. Far from quaint.  
  
"-a look at the front page, yet more problem with the Florida chads, don't expect a president anytime soon, a local woman presses a lawsuit against Burger King-" A blaring clock-radio shatters the tranquillity, and a hand shoots out from under a pile of blankets, finding the 'off' button easily. The owner of the hand pauses, then rolls out of bed, automatically grabbing a towel and tramping off to the bathroom to spend a good fifteen minutes in a steaming shower.   
  
Six a.m. comes very early. Especially for high-school students.   
  
Approximately twenty minutes later light fills the white-walled room, and a figure paces about the ragged pink carpet. Lj Reese flops down on her bed and sighs. Too early, too early. Heaving another sigh, Lj somersaults up and stares in the mirror. And sighs again.  
  
She is not especially pretty, to others nor to herself. Messy, untamed brown locks cascaded over what once were pretty blue eyes, but too many 6 a.m. mornings had given them a greenish tinge and circled them with black. She knows she is not popular, with her baggy jeans and black nails. On the other hand, she is not a geek. No, Lj Reese tends to fade into the background, and her misanthropic tendencies do a excellent job of keeping her there. Fine by her.   
  
After devouring two pop-tarts and throwing a backpack filled with half-completed homework over her shoulder, she steps out of her home slightly before 7 a.m. The darkness of a January winter encloses around her, and the full moon glints in the cloudless sky. She shivers. A cold January winter.   
  
Making a mental note to wear a jacket tomorrow, Lj stomps off to the bus stop, wearily bracing herself for another day of awkward hell.  
  
-------------  
  
Remus Lupin is currently very close to having a nervous breakdown. At least, his human mind is. His wolf mind is in ecstasy.   
  
Lupin had traveled to America yesterday. Sirius Black had gone about a week ago, searching for Albus Dumbledore's supporters, and had asked Remus for help. Remus, being unemployed because of his...condition, eagerly agreed. It would give him something to do, at least.   
  
Blame it on jet lag, blame it on excitement, blame it on stupidity. Remus Lupin was unaware of the full moon. He was choosing to blame it on jet lag, screwing his internal sense of the lunar cycle to uselessness. But it was still his fault.   
  
Even worse, he had chosen to sleep at a bus stop, like any other bum with no money would. Because that was what he was. In both the wizarding world and the muggle territory. Poor.   
  
And it really doesn't matter whether you're a wizard or a squib or a muggle, in wizarding or muggle land, if you're a bum during the middle of a snowy winter, you freeze your ass off. He was using what little energy he had to keep in his body heat and lull himself into a catnap, not stare up at the moon.   
  
So he had not known, had not bothered to look. He's paying for that mistake now, running through a muggle neighborhood, humans all around him. Indoors, though. As long as they didn't come out until sunrise, he'd be okay. They'd be okay. His human mind processed this.   
  
His wolf mind wanted prey. Wanted to kill, to tear flesh and taste blood. His wolf mind growled with irritation at the walls that surrounded sleeping, helpless victims.   
  
It was to Remus Lupin's horror when he first saw lights turn on. The full moon was still glowing strong, and sunrise wasn't for another hour and a half, at least.   
  
He was screwed.  
  
What little control his human mind had was gone. He crouched low, out of sight, and waited. Nose twitching with anticipation, he watched lights flash on in several other houses nearby. It wouldn't be long now.  
  
Then, a door opening. Shutting. A figure walking out, away from safety, down a darkened street.  
  
He attacked.  
  
Lunging out of his hiding place, he pinned the person to the ground, snarling with the rhapsody of the hunt. "What the f-!" A feminine voice screamed, but he canceled out the cry with a victory howl of his own. His fangs glistening in the moonlight, he lowered his jaws and bit down. Hard.  
  
She screamed obscenities again, blood oozing down her shoulder and staining the snow. Remus howled again, his senses muddled by the taste of blood, and moved to tear out her throat.  
  
Suddenly, a black blur cut through the murky pre-dawn air. It tore Remus away from his prey, biting and barking in a fierce, reprimanding manner. Grabbing Lupin by the scruff of his neck and holding him so he wouldn't be able to turn suddenly and bite, it dragged him off into the shadows of a nearby grove.   
  
'Sirius...' His human mind managed to process before everything went dark.  
  



	2. Early Morning Aftermath

Have Fangs, Will Travel  
Part Two  
  
Lj rolled over in the sludgy snow, now swearing non-stop. Blood ran from her arm, staining what little of the snow was actually white. Pushing herself to her feet, she picked up her backpack and stared off after the dogs. Big, flesh eating dogs. Probably rabid. Such a lovely way to start off a Monday.  
  
Her clothes were soaked through, her knees were torn and skinned, and her right shoulder was an attractive shade of crimson. Her backpack was fortunate enough to land in a puddle of the half-melted street sludge, so what little homework she did was probably beyond deliverance.  
  
Pain shot through her, and she dropped to a crouch. "Yes," She mumbled through a hiss of agony, "this would be hell is like."  
  
It was then that she remembered that she had to go to school.   
  
"Screw that." She mumbled, throwing herself back to a standing position and moving swiftly towards home, howling something about deranged housepets before abruptly stopping, swaying unstedily, and passing out.  
  
-------------------  
  
Lupin's eyes fluttered. Then stopped. Then fluttered again, and shut harshly.   
  
"Turn down the lights." He mumbled groggily, before realizing he was outside. He winced when he realized that his pillow was a large rock, and his blanket was God-knows-what. He groaned. "Please let me die."  
  
A dire chuckle from next to him brought him to his senses. "I think the Ministry'll take care of that for you."  
  
The memory's of last night's escapade flashed through his head. The moon, the metallic taste of blood, the black dog. The...girl!  
  
"Padfoot!" He cried, recognizing his friend's voice. His eyes flew open and his concern and horror shown brazenly in them. "What happened? Is she-"  
  
"Alive, yes." Sirius said, his voice also revealing more stress and reprimand then he intended. "But she was bitten. You know that much." He paused, and his voice took on a much more thoughtful tone. "It's interesting, though...I don't reckon a muggle's ever been bitten before...certainly not to my recollection..."  
  
"Yes, yes, ask Binns when you get back to Hogwarts." Remus muttered, distracted.   
  
Sirius snorted. "Have I ever asked a teacher anything?"  
  
Remus imitated the snort. "No. That would not only reveal that you're not omnipotent, but that teachers have higher mentality than you. Which they do." He added dryly.   
  
Sirius chose to ignore him. "Speaking of Hogwarts...how'd you get here? England isn't an easy place to apparate from. Not with the ministry as strict as it's gotten. Particularly if your trying to get to America. Espically then if you happen to be a werewolf. Isn't there paperwork? What did you say, 'I've got to meet my friend, the escaped mass murderer, to help him on a secret mission that the ministry would feverently dissapprove of, if they were even remotely aware of what was going on'? Better yet, how'd they respond?"  
  
"Oh just shut up." Remus ran his fingers through his unkempt hair and ignored the majority of his attention-starved friend's babble. "I flew."   
  
Sirius goggled at him. "On a broom?"  
  
"No you idiot! On a plane! You know, those big, metal muggle bird-things?"   
  
Sirius shrugged. "You know, when I asked for you to help I wasn't exactly expecting you to accept." He grinned. "Try and say that 3 times fast."   
  
"I'd rather not." Remus groaned again, trying to blink away the perpetual headache. "You're too damn perky for...what time is it?"  
  
"9:00 am." Sirius smiled his lopsided grin, then his face pursed into a look of complete seriousness. "We've got to go back to Hogwarts now that you're up. Get this whole thing sorted out. You've already broken about a dozen laws in the past 24 hours. Apparating out of country without a license won't hurt. To Hogsmead!" He transformed into a dog and moved closer to the now standing Remus.   
  
"I'm so screwed."   
  
Sirius made a nodding motion before Remus grabbed the scruff of his neck and they both dissappeared.   
  
-------------------   
  
When Lj woke it was light out. Spots flashed before her eyes in erratic patterns. She was now thoroughly agitated.  
  
"Geez, I look like a friggin' homeless person." She muttered, staring down at her gray t-shirt which was now the color of sludge, except for the red stain all down one of her shoulders. Soaked to the bone, pale and trembling with the cold, she grabbed her backpack and tried standing. Her head spun, but she kept her consiousness.  
  
Walking unsteadily up the gravel road, she paused and hesitated before pulling her sleeve up over her shoulder.   
  
The wound was horrid. Punctures that could not be taken for anything other than teeth marks were beginning to scab over, but blood was oozing fresh from some of them because of all her movement. Upon closer inspection, each gash was rimmed with white, pale flesh while the rest of her shoulder was a bruise, so dark it was nearly black.   
  
"Urgh." Yes, that pretty much summed up the morning completely.   
  
She walked up her ice-covered driveway, hearing the concerned yelps of her little brothers and the scream which had to be her mother.   



	3. Strange Happenings

Fierce looks were tossed around the room, cast from fearful and angry eyes. Remus Lupin absorbed the majority of these glares, and did his best to look pitiful, but not to an atrocious extent. With Sirius as a friend, he knew what looks would get him out of trouble and what looks would just get him more of it.   
  
Of course, he looked pitiful anyway. Sickly and sleep-depraved as he always was after full moons, he really couldn't have looked any more awful if he tried. Add a pair of ragged, dirty robes and an unkempt mop of hair, he was quite a site to be seen.  
  
So, of course, he was not only seen, he was practically examined.   
  
The eyes that were casting him looks of utmost agitation belonged to the staff of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They were all once his co-workers, and most of them had even been his teachers at one point. It was very difficult to meet their looks of wrath without feeling like an eleven year old again.  
  
"So," Transfiguration professor Minerva McGonagall said, breaking the uneasy silence. "So."   
  
Not much more could really be said.   
  
McGonagall looked more sickened than angry, but her eternally stern expression never wavered. Her lips were pursed impossibly tight, he noted. She always did that when things were out of her control. James, Sirius, Peter and himself had spent enough time in her office to realize that. Her facial cast was shared by the majority of the room, except for professor Severus Snape, who's face wore a malicious little smirk. Sirius, still a large mutt, paced behind his friend and began to hackle when he caught Snape's look, but Remus 'accidentally' kicked him. This was bad enough, the last thing needed was a fist fight between the two old enemies.   
  
"Sit down Remus." Dumbledore said firmly, but not unkindly.   
  
Lupin was all too glad to oblige. He had been standing through his entire story (not that it was all that long), and his knees were beginning to wobble with nerves.   
  
"What happens now, sir?" Professor Flitwick asked, his voice more shrill than usual. "Werewolves have been sent to Azkaban for biting wizarding children. This is much, much worse."   
  
"I think that we all agree that Remus cannot go to Azkaban." McGonagall said slowly, thoughtfully. "He plays an active role in the resistance. If we were to send him to Azkaban, we may as well just hand over our plans to Voldemort." She flinched slightly as she finished speaking.  
  
"Minerva is quite correct." Dumbledore said warily. "Not that I would have handed Remus to the dementors anyway. It was not intentional."   
  
Snape looked displeased. "What about the pup? All muggle wolves are to be exterminated within a month of the bite, by order of Ministry law."   
  
"No," Remus said so vehemently that several wavering gazes snapped up to his face once more. "She's just a child. It would be like killing any of the students here." Several nods and whispers of agreement met this statement, but Snape's scowl just increased.  
  
"Are you sure she's still alive?" Dumbledore asked gently.  
  
Lupin hesitated. "The girl was alive when we left her. Having been bitten, she'll be in and out of consciousness, while her system adjusts to the abrupt changes. We don't know her whereabouts as of right now."   
  
"Well then, you'd better find her." Dumbledore replied. His usually amused expression turned sober. "Find her soon, before the ministry. Or I fear the consequences will be much too dire for reckoning. Everyone else," He glanced around the room and gave each staff member a piercing look. "Will not tell a soul of this." His eyes began glinting merrily once more. "Meeting adjourned!"   
  
----------------  
  
In and out of consciousness was probably the best way to describe Lj's afternoon. Incoherent dreams of wolves and witches proved to be interesting, but got annoying fast. Scattered memories of the mid-morning excursion to the hospital proved a bit more surprising, and much more aggravating.   
  
"-blood on her shirt-"  
  
"-doesn't mean it's hers. Could be the dogs."  
  
"It's real, that's for sure. And human."   
  
"-won't know that for sure until testing comes through-"  
  
"-no puncture wounds. The skin didn't break. How could it be hers?"   
  
Those were the scattered bits of conversation she managed to pick up and remember in her state of muddled consciousness. She glanced at her shoulder again. Bruised, but even that was fading fast. No bite mark. That bewildered her. She checked it as soon as she woke up after her first blackout, and there were teeth marks. How else to explain the blood on her shoulder?   
  
She was thoroughly awake by 5 o'clock, and after showing no signs of falling unconscious again was allowed to go out to the grocery store with her father, mainly to see if she would be able to handle school tomorrow.  
  
"What do you think? Peas or corn?" Her father asked intently, mowing the shopping cart down the isle like a madman.   
  
"Corn," She answered, bored out of her skull.   
  
Her father made to ask her another question, but was interrupted by the most inhuman, awful sound her hearing had ever picked up. It was like a drill was being taken to her ears. Lj dropped to her knees and clutched her head in pain as her eardrums throbbed. It seemed to go on forever, but as suddenly as it started, it stopped.   
  
Then she realized everyone in the isle was staring at her.   
  
"Lj!" Her father hissed frantically. "What's wrong?"   
  
And then it hit her. No one else had heard it.   
  
"Nothing." She smiled shakily. "Just a bit dizzy from this morning, I guess." Standing and brushing the dust off her jeans, she blinked a couple times and smiled weakly at the staring crowd. They turned and went about their business, muttering about lunatics.   
  
"Go stand up by the counter. I've just got to get some bread, then we'll leave. No school tomorrow." Her father took off quickly.  
  
Lj smiled. No school tomorrow, and the only price she had to pay was looking like a total fool in public. She shrugged. It could be worse.   
But then there was that noise...  
  
It happened again, but this time she was prepared. She grabbed the edge of a shelf and made her way towards the source of the sound, trying to look indifferent but failing miserably, sure that blood would start running from her ears at any moment.   
  
"Jonathan!" A woman pushed past her, unperturbed, and made up the isle where her son (presumably) was standing over a barrel.   
  
"Take that out of your mouth! You don't know where that's been! Now we'll have to buy it!"   
  
She tore the object from the boy's mouth. The sound stopped.   
  
Lj gaped.  
  
The woman grabbed her son roughly and pulled him away from the isle. "Honestly, what good is a dog whistle if you don't have a dog."   
  
Lj's stare went unnoticed as the mother and child left the store. Instantly, she strode up the isle and stopped over the barrel. "This can't be," She mumbled frantically, "It's like something out of that crappy '80's werewolf movie."   
  
The barrel was filled with small, shiny dog whistles.   
  
She bought one and waited for her father at the exit.   



End file.
